DIGITAL ANTHROPOLOGY: FROM IDENTITY TO THE «BURNOUT SOCIETY»

Abstract

This study analyzes the transition from classical models of subjectivity to the state of a “burnout society,” where the individual becomes an object of total self-exploitation and psychopolitical control. It is demonstrated that within this dimension, traditional identity models lose stability under the pressure of information and communication technologies, leading to the emergence of a “digital personality.” The methodological framework of the work is based on a synthesis of concepts by leading 20th and 21st-century thinkers: from J. Baudrillard’s theory of simulation and the deontologization of reality to the neurophilosophical analysis of Byung-Chul Han. According to these views, virtual space emerges as a “social laboratory” where the real individual is replaced by a network subject (Identity Management), resulting in the devaluation of intimacy and existential depletion. The research findings reveal the paradoxical nature of modern violence: external disciplinary compulsion has been replaced by an internal “dictate of success,” which breeds depression as a “tiredness of ability.” The study proves that the excess of information and positivity in the media space not only levels the capacity for critical thinking but also transforms traditional narrative into commercial storytelling. It is emphasized that the integration of storytelling into the “experience economy” demonstrates the ultimate absorption of existential experience by commercial structures, where emotions and memory are turned into commodities. Furthermore, the study highlights that the “society of the spectacle,” by filling the individual’s inner void with an endless stream of visual stimuli, deprives them of historical consciousness and genuine proximity to the Other. This research substantiates that overcoming this anthropological dead end is possible only through restoring the ontological need for the Other and returning to narrative practices that are not subordinated to market logic. The exit from the “burnout society” lies in the rejection of total transparency and self-exploitation in favor of the “negativity” of boredom and tranquility, which serve as the sole foundation for the birth of authentic culture and a free personality.